In the Eyes of a Soldier: All Quiet on the Western Front
Joseph Stalin once said, "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." Most people in the world fail to realize the real tragedy of war. The millions of deaths which occur during a war are undoubtedly tragic, but no one comprehends the trauma on the battlefield as well as the soldiers themselves do. One of the greatest war novels of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front, focuses on the perspectives of the soldiers themselves, rather than the diplomatic issues behind the war. The reader is given an inside look at what conditions were like on the front, including the thoughts and actions that the soldiers experience. Researching World War I would provide one with much information dealing with the social, political, and economic factors of the war, as well as the statistics concerning the wounded and dead. What one will not be provided with, however, is information regarding the fear and propaganda with which the soldiers were faced. In the trenches, all soldiers live each moment as their last, having fear that lies in the fact that in an instant they could be blown to pieces, and that everything depends solely on fate. During combat, the shells are flying everywhere, contributing greatly towards the
fear of death in the soldiers. "When he presses himself down upon her [Earth] long and powerfully, when he buries his face and his limbs deep in her from the fear of death by shell-fire . . ." (55). On the battlefield, the soldiers' only defense against the shell-fire is to sprawl out on the ground and wait for a relatively safe moment to move. The men are overcome by fear, and act only on impulse. Many of the men are not strong enough to deal with the fear, or they lack the experience to know that some people do make it out alive. Trench warfare is especially hard on the new soldiers, being unaccustomed to the misery and pain. "Beside us lies a fair recruit in utter terror" (61). The young recruit is new to the war, and does not know how to deal with the horror of bombardment. His fear became apparent when he soiled his pants, and suddenly the fright transformed him from a strong young man to a helpless child. Fear caused many soldiers to become conscious of how little they knew of the world, and that despite what they expected of the war, nothing could have prepared them for the dreadfulness that they faced on the front. Propaganda during the war was used to glorify fighting for your country, and encourage young men to enlist in the army. However, the young men were not informed of the disturbing images they would see in combat. When Baumer returned home to visit, he was bitter towards the civilians because they talked about fighting for the cause and how wonderful it was that the men were fighting for their country, but at the same time they knew nothing of war. Desiderius Erasmus commented that "War is delightful to those
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Approximate Word count = 1115
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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